Riverwood is a privately owned historic house located in

Nashville, Tennessee Nashville is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the county seat, seat of Davidson County, Tennessee, Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the List of muni ...

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. At 9,200 square-feet it sits on 8 acres of its original 2,500 acres. It has been a wedding and event facility since 1997.Riverwood Mansion, History
Eleanor Graham, ''Nashville: a short history and selected buildings'', Historical Commission of Metropolitan Nashville-Davidson County, 1974, pp. 18-1

/ref>Joseph Frazer Smith, ''Plantation Houses and Mansions of the Old South'', Courier Dover Publications, 1941, p. 24

/ref>

Location

The mansion is located at 1833 Welcome Lane in Nashville, Tennessee.

History

The rear wing was built in 1799 by Alexander Porter, an Ireland, Irish immigrant who came to Nashville in the mid-1790s. He originally named it Tammany Woods after his family home in Ireland. By the 1820s, he built a two-story

Federal Federal or foederal (archaic) may refer to: Politics General *Federal monarchy, a federation of monarchies *Federation, or ''Federal state'' (federal system), a type of government characterized by both a central (federal) government and states or ...

-style home a few feet away from the rear wing. In 1850, a third story was added, alongside a

Greek Revival The Greek Revival was an architectural movement which began in the middle of the 18th century but which particularly flourished in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, predominantly in northern Europe and the United States and Canada, but ...

portico A portico is a porch leading to the entrance of a building, or extended as a colonnade, with a roof structure over a walkway, supported by columns or enclosed by walls. This idea was widely used in ancient Greece and has influenced many cult ...

supported by six Corinthian columns. Guests included President

Andrew Jackson Andrew Jackson (March 15, 1767 – June 8, 1845) was an American lawyer, planter, general, and statesman who served as the seventh president of the United States from 1829 to 1837. Before being elected to the presidency, he gained fame as ...

(1767–1845) and his wife Rachel Jackson (1767-1828), who was an aunt to Alexander's son's wife. In 1859, Judge

William Frierson Cooper William Frierson Cooper (March 11, 1820 – May 7, 1909) was a lawyer, planter and politician. He was nominated to the Supreme Court of the Confederate States of America by President Jefferson Davis, but the court never sat because of the American ...

(1820–1909), a member of the Tennessee Supreme Court, purchased the property. He renamed it Riverwood as it was by the

Cumberland River The Cumberland River is a major waterway of the Southern United States. The U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map, accessed June 8, 2011 river drains almost of southern Kentucky and ...

. His brothers and their wives lived in the house with him. In the 1880s and 1890s, plumbing and electricity were added. The dining room was also extended, and the two houses were united. After his death in 1909, his brother

Duncan Brown Cooper Duncan Brown Cooper (April 21, 1844–November 4, 1922) was an American journalist, publisher and Democratic politician. He served in both the Tennessee House of Representatives and in the Tennessee Senate. In 1908, he became involved in a ...

inherited the property. When Cooper died in 1922, his daughter Sarah and her husband Dr. Lucius E. Burch, a Dean of the

Vanderbilt University School of Medicine Vanderbilt University School of Medicine is a graduate medical school of Vanderbilt University located in Nashville, Tennessee. Located in the Vanderbilt University Medical Center on the southeastern side of the Vanderbilt University campus, the S ...

, inherited the house. They had a son, Lucius E. Burch, Jr. Their annual Christmas Dinner was attended by the Nashville elite.

Robert Penn Warren Robert Penn Warren (April 24, 1905 – September 15, 1989) was an American poet, novelist, and literary critic and was one of the founders of New Criticism. He was also a charter member of the Fellowship of Southern Writers. He founded the liter ...

spent a summer in one of their cottages during his stay at

Vanderbilt University Vanderbilt University (informally Vandy or VU) is a private research university in Nashville, Tennessee. Founded in 1873, it was named in honor of shipping and rail magnate Cornelius Vanderbilt, who provided the school its initial $1-million ...

. Presidents Andrew Jackson,

James K. Polk James Knox Polk (November 2, 1795 – June 15, 1849) was the 11th president of the United States, serving from 1845 to 1849. He previously was the 13th speaker of the House of Representatives (1835–1839) and ninth governor of Tennessee (183 ...

(1795–1849),

Franklin Pierce Franklin Pierce (November 23, 1804October 8, 1869) was the 14th president of the United States, serving from 1853 to 1857. He was a northern Democrat who believed that the abolitionist movement was a fundamental threat to the nation's unity ...

(1804–1869),

Andrew Johnson Andrew Johnson (December 29, 1808July 31, 1875) was the 17th president of the United States, serving from 1865 to 1869. He assumed the presidency as he was vice president at the time of the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. Johnson was a Dem ...

(1808–1875),

Grover Cleveland Stephen Grover Cleveland (March 18, 1837June 24, 1908) was an American lawyer and politician who served as the 22nd and 24th president of the United States from 1885 to 1889 and from 1893 to 1897. Cleveland is the only president in American ...

(1837–1908),

Theodore Roosevelt Theodore Roosevelt Jr. ( ; October 27, 1858 – January 6, 1919), often referred to as Teddy or by his initials, T. R., was an American politician, statesman, soldier, conservationist, naturalist, historian, and writer who served as the 26t ...

(1858–1919), and

William Howard Taft William Howard Taft (September 15, 1857March 8, 1930) was the 27th president of the United States (1909–1913) and the tenth chief justice of the United States (1921–1930), the only person to have held both offices. Taft was elected pr ...

(1857–1930) and Vice President Adlai Stevenson I (1835-1914) visited the house. The Burches lived in it until 1975. The property was purchased by Joe and Jackie Glynn in 1994. Over the next three years, the Glynns restored the property and opened the property to facilitate weddings and small events in 1997. In June 2015, the Glynn's sold the property to investors Debbie Sutton, Steven R Shelton, and Matt Wilson. Riverwood Mansion has been featured in multiple music videos, television shows, and magazines, most recently on the October 2015 cover of Southern Living Magazine, featuring Reese Witherspoon.

Architectural significance

It was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

on July 20, 1977.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Riverwood Houses in Nashville, Tennessee Greek Revival houses in Tennessee Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in Tennessee National Register of Historic Places in Nashville, Tennessee